Rose Succulent - Finally Finished

I finally finished the succulent that I started before the demonstration at Lima Area Watercolor Society.  It was part of the pouring demonstration.  The painting was poured, but poured in areas that I had divided with miskit.  I used acrylic inks for the initial pours and then removed the miskit and finished with transparent watercolor.  The painting is 15" x 19" and is painted on 140 lb. cold-pressed Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper.  This was also painted for the March project of Watercolor Workshop.

Composition using a High Horizon Line

I was back to the Mary Todd Beam book "Celebrate Your Creative Self" and did this project from the chapter on composition.  This particular project is using a high horizon line in a horizontal composition.  In the first example from today the horizon line should be higher.  I think the lower painting more successfully used a high horizon line.  I did both paintings on illustration board with acrylic paint.

Working With Staining Colors in Fluid Acrylics

I went back to the book "Celebrate Your Creative Self " today and experimented with fluid acrylics.  I applied my colors - quinacridone gold, and turquoise straight from the bottle - the gold in shapes and the turquoise in drips and dots.  Then I drew a line of quinacridone crimson across the top, and using a wide putty knife, scraped down through the paint - cleaning off the putty knife after each swipe.  The fluid acrylics stain the illustration board.  I cut some designs out of erasers and stamped black designs on the bottom work - and also embellished it with black ink designs.  These works are both, so far, nameless!  I had a lot of fun and learned a lot from this project.  What a great book!

Surreal Sunset

I had this image in my mind  from a dream and just had to make it todays creation to sort of purge it from my dream bank. Yes - I am a crazy artist!   It is 7" x 12" and is painted on 140 lb. cold-pressed Arches watercolor paper.

Bob The Train Clown

This is Bob, The Train Clown! The painting is complete!  It   is 10" x 8" and is painted on 140 lb. cold-pressed watercolor paper.  (The spot light isn't really green - this is the way my camera reads it!)

Bob The Train Clown: WIP #2

I worked some more on the Train Clown this evening - It still needs a lot of shadows and some detailing.

The Train Clown

My brother and sister-in-law, Tony and Mary, celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary by treating their family and friends to a beautiful autumn afternoon train ride on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.  It was a lovely afternoon and one of the perks was Bob (I think that was his name) the clown, one of their friends who entertained the children on the train.  I took a photograph of "Bob" and decided it would make a nice painting.  Yesterday I drew it and today I began the painting.  It is approximately 10" x 8" and is on 140 Arches cold-pressed watercolor paper.

It's Finished! Pamela's Barn Truck

Nothing more to say!  It's done! Yeah!  Yipee! Wheee!

Almost Finished!!! Not Quite!

I was unable to post this last night because it was storming - so this is yesterday's work!  I still need to tweek a few places and then - FINI!

Barn Truck: WIP #4

I worked on the barn truck again today - as I said yesterday - it is slowly progressing...and yes- all that detail takes a long time.  Yuk!

Barn Truck: WIP #3

I worked some more on the barn truck today - actually I painted a lot today on it - there was a lot of detail painting on the barn foundation rocks and on the truck - took a lot of time.  It's coming - slowly!  Actually, I  vacumed my basement studio and did the washing today- so for those of you who wonder if I ever do anything but paint - the answer is yes!  I even made chicken stir fry for dinner!  I am a human dynamo!  Tee Hee!  NOT!

Barn Truck: WIP #2

I finally got back to the truck painting.  I posted the drawing some time ago and today I painted the truck.  There is a lot to go before this one is completed.  The truck is from a photo taken by my friend, Pamela Baker, an excellent photographer.

Moonglow: Light Modeling Paste Composition

Today I decided to use a sample jar of Golden Light Modeling Paste that I had hanging around.  This is done on a piece of illustration board, 7" x 12."  I put a light coating of modeling paste on the board with a putty knife and then drew on it with the rounded end of a paint brush handle.  It was painted with watercolors and then I dry-brushed Golden gold fluid acrylic over the surface.  The light modeling paste is very different from the extra-heavy gel - it is not as hard to work with and does not dry to a real hard surface.  It seems to be more fibrous - much like a refined paper mache product.  It takes the watercolor very well.

Creating with a Modeled Gel Surface

I went back to the book "Celebrate Your Creative Self" today and worked with the project where you use modeling gel, an acrylic substance which is very stiff and must be applied like putty.  I used a piece of an old credit card, but something stiffer and stronger would have been much better.  After the gel is applied to the board, you use a series of tools to stamp designs into the gel.  I used the lid of the gel jar and varied assorted clay sculpture tools.  After the gel is dry, you paint with acrylics and then I dry-brushed Golden fluid acrylic gold over the top to catch the designs on the surface.  It was much fun and I was happy with the results.

Happy White Rabbit

This is todays daily creation - a small oil painting 6" x 6" painted on a canvas panel. Michelle brought the ceramic rabbit and the material to our painting group today and I provided the old enamel pitcher.  What fun!

Imagine Your World

Well, I am back with the book "Celebrate Your Creative Self" by Mary Todd Beam.  This particular project is a tissue paper collage with watercolor pencils and pastels and liquid acrylics.  It was a lot of fun just letting myself go with shapes, texture and color.

John Thompson's Old Truck

Today I finished the truck I started a couple of weeks ago.  I was teaching my intermediate watercolor class at Riverside Arts Center how to paint this.  It is 9" x 9" and is painted on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold-pressed watercolor paper.

"Pretty in Pink:" A tribute to Cia

It is finally complete!!! The source photo of this painting was a photograph taken by Cia Price, who is now deceased.   This will never do justice to her beautiful paintings, but hopefully it will honor her.  The name, Pretty in Pink, comes from Norena Fox, a friend who suggested it. Thanks, Norena!

The painting is 22"x28" and is painted on 140 lb. Canson One cold-pressed watercolor paper.  The drawing itself was done by using a grid which I divided into 16 sections and the underpainting was poured using acrylic inks during a demonstration at the Lima Area Watercolor Society last Tuesday evening.  It was completed using traditional transparent watercolor techniques.

Work In Progress #4

I spent several hours on this today - it is slow, but it is beginning to shape up.  This type of painting takes a lot of time - for one thing, it is large - almost a full sheet of watercolor paper - this one is 22" x 28" and there is a lot of glazing - color on color on this one.  A couple of days more and it should be finished.  I imagine everyone is getting tired of seeing this one! :(

German Village Drawings

Michelle and I went to Columbus for the Ohio Plein Air Society meeting today where we met Jody.  After the meeting we went to German Village where Jody and Michelle painted and I drew some houses on canvases in preparation for paintings.  It was extremely windy and I decided not to set up my plein air supplies and to draw instead.  I also took some great pictures.  All in all - we had a great day!

WIP #3 on Demonstration Painting for LAWS

I worked this afternoon on the large floral I poured Tuesday evening at the Lima Area Watercolor Society.  It is coming - slowly but surely.  The painting is 22" x 28" and is on 140 lb. Canson cold-pressed watercolor paper.

Soup Tonight

Michelle set up a still life for our Thursday afternoon painting group - so - I put aside the watercolor I have been working on and did an oil painting today.  I love painting leeks - so here is "soup tonight!" It is 9" x 12" and is painted on a canvas panel.

WIP 2 on Demonstration Painting

I worked on the demonstration painting today - I removed all the miskit and began to define/detail the flowers.  This has about 2 1/2 hours of work on it today.  Time for bed!

Work in Progress: Demonstration at Lima Area Watercolor Society

Well - I finally got back to the demo painting.  I did my demonstration at the Lima Area Watercolor Society tonight.  This is the painting after the pouring stage.  I did a little of the watercolor detailing/defining in the lower right but there is much to go on this one.  Stay tuned!!!

It was so nice to see old friends and meet new ones.  LAWS is a great organization!  It was so nice of them to ask me to do a demonstration.

John Thompson's Truck: WIP

This is the painting that I had my class do tonight during our class.  I would paint a section of the truck, and then the students would paint a part - they did SO well tonight!  I will post the finished painting soon. 

WIP: Succulent

 I did some experimenting this weekend with pouring.  The Watercolor Workshop Yahoo group has this succulent for it's March project.  I decided to try a different approach and after drawing it using a grid, I outlined it all with miskit.  I decided to pour each leaf individually instead of the whole paper at once.  I used acrylic inks which I mixed up ahead of time.  I removed the miskit and am ready to define and detail the painting with traditional watercolor techniques.  The painting is 15" x 20" and is on Fabriano Artistico 140 lb. cold-pressed watercolor paper.

"It's Improv, Man!"

I'm putting the Mary Todd Beam book aside for a day to post this little creation.  While mixing acrylic inks this afternoon for a demo pour I am doing Tuesday night, I was cleaning my brushes on a scrap of watercolor paper.  I began to really like what was happening and continued to develop it into an abstract painting.  The size is 4" x 10" and is painted on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold-pressed watercolor paper.  I guess you can tell what colors the pour will be on Tuesday night!

Bringing Back The Whites

Lifting color to Bring Back White...I first did a thumbnail of my idea and then layed in washes in burnt sienna, yellow ochre, and ultramarine blue and various mixtures of the three colors.  Beam recommends that you use a foam brush to lift color, but since I didn't have one, I used an inch flat watercolor brush and proceeded to lift out areas including my leaf shapes.  After it dried, I added paint to define and tweek the composition using the same colors I used for the initial washes.  Except for the final application, which gives you hard edges, this lifting technique gives you a gentle, soft effect.  This painting is 6" x 12" and is painted on Canson Tientes 140 lb. cold-pressed watercolor paper.

Opaque and Textured Cornflowers

In the book "Celebrate Your Creative Self", Beam talks about when opaques surround your subject matter, it will make your subject more special.  In this painting, I drew some cornflowers on a reject painting from the "archives" and then surrounded them with light blue acrylic paint allowing the original painting to be the subject cornflowers. I tweeked some areas with glossy green and ginger acrylic paint.   Beam states that the opaques help focus attention on the subject of the painting.

This painting is 9" x 6" and is on 140 lb. Arches cold-pressed watercolor paper.

Painting Around the White

This is the second project I am doing from Mary Todd Beam's book "Celebrate Your Creative Self!"  This lesson and project  is "painting around the white."  In the book she says: With this technique you isolate the white shapes and hold them as positive shapes, painting the negative background shapes.   I have done a lot of negative painting, but I have never approached it exactly like this.  I did this same subject a few months ago in an entirely different approach - a traditional approach.  This painting is looser than that first one.  Although it is still tight by many standards, this one, especially the background is much less tight.

View From the Window

I received a new book in the mail today - Celebrate Your Creative Self by Mary Todd Beam.  It is wonderful - chocked full of wonderful projects that are so creative and pushing the edge...just what I need!

The project I selected today asked you to come up with a composition which starts with a triangle, square and circle.  She used a bird and so did I, but my bird is not like her bird I assure you!  She also used liquid acrylics and I used watercolors.  The challenge in this projects was to protect white areas by masking with contact paper, which I didn't have!  Soooo - I used masking tape to create my dark and light patterns.  I put the tape on the areas and then cut around it with an x-acto knife.  Then I  did the painting with quinacridone burnt orange, yellow ochre, cereulean  blue and quinacridone  gold.  Of course I used salt to texturize some areas.  I plan to work my way through the book using the projects.